


you can't deafen the sound

by moonlights0nata



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS
Genre: Angst, Gen, The Lost Incident (Yu-Gi-Oh), Young Ryoken, mentions of child torture, obviously, rubs my headcanons all over
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-29
Updated: 2020-09-29
Packaged: 2021-03-08 00:54:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,025
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26707054
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/moonlights0nata/pseuds/moonlights0nata
Summary: “Father? A question.”“Go on.”“What sort of project are you working on this time?”There’s silence. His father seemed to be debating something with himself before humming.“Would you like to see?”--Young Ryoken snippets up until he reports the L.I to the authorities.
Relationships: Asou | Faust & Dr. Genome & Revolver | Kougami Ryouken & Taki Kyoko
Comments: 7
Kudos: 14





	you can't deafen the sound

**Author's Note:**

> I was like "haha let's write cute little Ryoken drabbles!!!" and instead I wrote on how he became a witness to the L.I. Woops. I took many liberties with the Knights portrayal, sprinkled a few HCs here and there...I'll comment more on the end notes.
> 
> CONTENT WARNINGS !!!
> 
> >Child torture (mentioned, not super graphically described).  
> >Small emetophobia (vomit) mention.  
> >IT'S A BAD TIME ALL AROUND FOR YOUNG RYOKEN 
> 
> Comments/Kudos/etc. always appreciated <3

The clock in the wall ticked loudly in the quiet. Ryoken looked up from his book every now and then to check the time, brow furrowed in concern.

His father had been getting home later and later. Somedays, he didn’t come back at all and Kyoko and Aso came to check on him instead. 

Ryoken liked them a lot. Kyoko brought him sweet cakes from a famous shop in the city; Aso gave Ryoken piggy back rides even when he hadn’t asked for them. He was eight! He could walk perfectly on his own. 

But there was something about being carried when he was on the verge of sleep. It was nice. Aso’s back was warm.

“What is Father working on?”

Kyoko and Aso had looked at each other at Ryoken’s question. The sun was hanging low in the sky, bathing the water and the riverbank in an orange light. Ryoken couldn’t quite decipher what passed between them.

“We cannot disclose too much information yet, Ryoken-kun.” Kyoko told him gently. “But know it’s a very important project, for the sake of humanity.”

“...I know.” Ryoken said. “But Father is always away, I rarely get the chance to ask. And even if it’s important…” He brushed the grass with his fingers. “I do not want him to overwork himself.”

“Don’t worry. We’re there to ensure your father paces himself.” Aso smiled before ruffling Ryoken’s hair. “I’ll scold him and tell him to come spend time with his boy!”

Ryoken frowned, batting the hands away.

“Don’t trouble Father! I’m okay.”

Still, perhaps Aso had had a word with Father because he came home after a long time a few days later. Ryoken hurried to meet him at the door.

“Father!”

“Ryoken.” His father placed his bag by the entrance. “Volume.”

Ryoken cleared his throat, face flushing. 

“Father.” He said, quieter. In his excitement, he’d forgotten to keep an even tone. “Welcome home.”

A short head pat, the ghost of a smile. He looked tired, as he took off his shoes and made it further into the house. Ryoken knew it, he was overworking himself! 

He waited until dinner to speak up.

“Father? A question.”

“Go on.”

“What sort of project are you working on this time?”

There’s silence. His father seemed to be debating something with himself before humming.

“Would you like to see?”

Ryoken hadn’t been expecting that. His eyes brightened and he had to reign his excitement back to keep his voice steady.

“Yes. I would.”

Another hum.

“Then I will show you the lab tomorrow.”

Amazing! All he had to do was ask, and his Father was willing to show him. Ryoken could hardly wait. 

* * *

The lab was not within the city, as Ryoken had expected. It was outside of it, secluded among trees in a forest.

A secret lab! Like the ones in movies, where they researched strange creatures or even beings from other planets.

Could Father have found an _alien_? Ryoken was dying to see. Maybe he could become its friend and learn about its language and culture.

From the entrance, they went right down a hallway. The facility was big, but they avoided several doors until they made it to one at the very end. It was a room with six monitors surrounding the walls, connected to different computers.

Whatever was within those screens didn’t quite have a shape yet. At least not one Ryoken’s young mind could understand. They were like interconnected circuits, a web of code, the colors differing in each one. With every passing moment, something shifted, the shape changed.

“What are these, Father?” Certainly not aliens.

His father approached one of the monitors, watching it.

“Do you know about free will, Ryoken?”

“Oh. Um.” Ryoken fidgeted. Was this a quiz? He hadn’t studied that! “Free will is...I do not know how to define it, Father.”

“Free will is about _choice_. Our desires, we manifest them into action. It is what makes humans so complex. We do not yet know where free will is within people. Whether it is our memories, our thoughts that move our will into action...or something else.”

His father reached out to touch the screen. 

“Programs do not possess free will. They are built on precise data and cannot want anything, or disobey the purpose they were created for. But that is exactly what I want to create. Artificial Intelligence with a will of its own, to be humanity's successor.” He removed his hand. “ _Ignis_.”

Ryoken listened on in awe, eyes brightening with every word.

“Impressive, Father!” He couldn’t quite hold back his volume. “How do they learn? Will they be able to speak like a human? Does their shape change because they will look like one too? If they have a will won't they be like--”

“Ryoken.” His father’s tone cut him off. Ryoken reeled himself in quickly, lowering his head. 

Father hated when he asked one question after the other. 

“Apologies, Father. I am merely fascinated.”

His father gave him a small pat on his shoulder and laughed gruffly.

“I cannot answer everything, yet. Much is unpredictable as they continue to develop--but they should be able to speak as a human, with time. They might even surpass my expectations.”

Incredible. Ryoken walked up to a monitor, watching the green blurb inside, the way it lit up brighter now and then as though it was receiving information. He tilted his head, placing his hands at either side of the screen. Could it see him? With time, could Ryoken get to talk to it then?

“Father?”

“Yes.”

“May I come again? To see them?”

“I appreciate you showing interest, but do not forget about your studies.”

Ryoken’s shoulders fell. 

“...But you may do your homework here, if you please.”

He turned around, flashing his father a smile.

“Thank you, Father.”

* * *

Ryoken’s instructions were clear: he could only stay within that room (unless told otherwise) and the break room. No sneaking around the rest of the facility, or interrupting the other’s work. 

“What’s the little runt doing here?” A green haired scientist Ryoken met a few days later gave him a cursory look. “I don’t remember this one.”

“My name is _Ry-o-ken._ Not runt.” He protested, standing on his tiptoes. He was short now but he’d be taller one day! “I am here to watch the Ignis--and do my homework.”

“Huh? Wait, uh--Ah, Kyoko-san!” He pointed at Ryoken with a thumb while turning to her as she walked in. “Since when are we on babysit duty too?”

“I do not need babysitting!”

“Genome.” Kyoko said. “Ryoken-kun is Doctor Kogami’s son. Show more respect.”

“That’s right.” Ryoken placed his hands on his hips. “Be respectful to me, DNA molecule.”

“Ah, ah, don’t try to play smart with me, kiddo. I’m the whole DNA.” He swept a hand over the top of Ryoken’s head. “You’re a particle.”

Ryoken fumed. He wanted to kick this man in the shin.

“I do not like you.” He said, instead, stomping away. He had homework to do anyway! And maybe later he could observe the AI.

* * *

Ryoken didn’t stay in the facility all day, every day. Somedays he rode there with Father or one of his subordinates, but occasionally he would order Ryoken to stay home and work quietly on his studies for that day. It wouldn’t do that he fell behind while getting distracted talking to AI that couldn’t talk back, yet.

Whenever he was home, and done with homework, Ryoken entertained himself with other books. He could only do this when Father was away.

From a spot under his bed, he dug out the thick astronomy book and swept through pages like he’d done a dozen times by now. 

Constellations, black holes, entire solar systems. Ryoken was enamored with every page of that book and its pictures. There were was much terminology he didn’t understand yet, within the theory, but every time he went back to it he knew a little more. 

He brushed a picture of the _Canes Venatici_ constellation. _‘Ryōken-za'._

“...Mother.” He said, into the empty quiet of his room. “Father is doing something amazing. I wish you were here to see it.”

Every time he revisited this book, formerly Mother’s, he missed her anew. Every year he remembered her face less and less. No pictures were left after Father got rid of them and her belongings.

Most of them, at least. Ryoken had salvaged this book, hiding it, only reading it when Father wasn’t around.  
It was the only secret he kept from Father. A small, little lie.

* * *

One day, he thought one of the AI spoke to him.

It could have been his mind playing tricks on him. But the string of color and code was not quite so shapeless anymore, but rather was looking more and more like a circle. An eye.

Eyes couldn’t speak. But the purple and black one, for a moment, had opened and stared straight at him.

_‘ H e l p ’_

Very faint, like a child speaking.

“Huh? Did you talk?”

No response. The eye wasn't moving.

Maybe Ryoken had really imagined it. But it happened again, another day.

_‘ S t o p ’_

Another eye. The red one. 

Whenever Ryoken talked, they didn’t respond. He was thinking it was less and less his imagination.

It kept happening and the words only grew more and more disturbing.

_‘P l e a s e l e t m e g o’_

_‘ I t h u r t s ’ ‘ N o m o r e ’_

_‘_ _**L e t m e o u t, l e t m e o u t, l e t m e o u t, l e t m e o u t ! ! !’** _

Distorted noises, as though screaming, as though the AI were trying to imitate something. Ryoken’s heart was gripped by fear.

“What’s wrong?! How do I help you?!”

No reply. Only blank stares from six eyes.

Ryoken tried to tell Kyoko that he’d heard them talk. She frowned.

“Really?” 

She tapped something on a control panel and a light came on. She’d turned on the mic: maybe that’s why the AI never replied!

But when she spoke to them, they remained the same. Eyes, unmoving, not saying a word.

“Ryoken-kun, you must have imagined it.” Kyoko chuckled. “They are incomplete AI. It’ll take some more time before they can answer back.”

The AI were always quiet when the other scientists were around. The eyes closed. 

Once he was alone, Ryoken tried to use the mic to speak to them.

“Hey, you…”

No response. Only stares. But the artificial yet human like voices they had spoken with haunted Ryoken the next couple days.

* * *

It was around the third month that he found it. 

The bathroom in the facility was to the left from the entrance. Usually Ryoken would let someone know he was going but everyone was away at the moment. More and more, he was being left to his own devices; it seemed everyone was getting busier.

So he slid out of the room into the hall. It’d only be a minute.

However, on his way out of the bathroom, a light caught his attention. It came from a slight ajar door, diagonal from where he was.

…

He shouldn’t.

No matter how powerful his curiosity was, he’d promised not to peek around the facility. Shaking his head, Ryoken was about to be on his way when he heard a muffled sound from that room. It made him pause. He waited.

There it was again. Distant, but unmistakably--a scream.

Ryoken froze, the beginnings of fear tugging at him. But what if someone was hurt? 

He approached the door and peeked through the gap.

This room had six monitors, too, atop a long control panel. 

In each screen, standing out against the white walls, were six small figures. When Ryoken stepped in closer, he saw they were children. A visor strapped to their heads, a duel disk in their arm.

Then a scream ripped through the silence and a child fell back against a wall.

“ _No more…”_

Another scream. _Thump_. And another. The crackle of electricity. Muffled pleas.

“ _Stop--”_

Words Ryoken had heard before, in the other room. His blood had turned to ice, legs shaking and eyes wide with terror. The distorted noises, the words the AI had spoken. Never replying, but _imitating_ what they **heard**.

Because of these children.

“What...What is going on…?”

This had to be a mistake, right? His father….Father couldn’t be creating AI like this, right? 

Steps coming from the hallway startled him. Someone was coming. He had to hide!

There was a small closet to his right. It was just big enough for him to fit. He held his breath as the footsteps came into the room.

“Genome, you left the door open again.” That was Aso. 

“Sorry, sorry.” Genome. “How are the kiddos?”

“006 is barely eating.” Aso said. “Could pose a problem…”

Ryoken’s heart thundered against his chest as he heard them talk among themselves. Did they spend day after day like this monitoring those kids while Ryoken was in the other room? Was everyone here working on this?

“We could give 005 a more difficult duel setting.”

Aso was always so kind to him. Now he spoke with a detached tone. He sounded like a stranger.

Ryoken couldn’t tell how much time he spent holed up there, listening to the children screaming and the clinical comments the other two made. He covered his ears at one point, fighting back a sob. 

It was horrible. It wouldn’t stop.

At one point, he heard Aso and Genome leave again, so he came out of hiding. He approached the monitors on shaky legs, taking each child in. Three boys: curled up in a corner; dueling with a smile; leaning against a wall in exhaustion. A girl with pigtails, eating what little she'd been given. Two more boys, one ripping the visor from his head, terrified, and the other...

When he got to the sixth monitor, his heart stopped.

Wisterias. Blue and pink hair.

Yusaku.

_“Do you want to come to my house?”_

The first friend he'd had over. Ryoken had been so excited to finally duel with someone else.

But then Father had come in and said it was late. Shouldn’t Yusaku head home? His family would worry.

They'd exchanged promises of meeting again, in the Den City park. Yusaku always went there after school! They could duel there freely.

But when Ryoken had gone there a few days later, there was no one. Maybe Yusaku was busy with homework, or he’d got in trouble.

No one showed up, day after day, and Ryoken gave it up, not without a sour taste in his mouth. Resignation tasted familiar in his tongue. It was back to being just him and his books, him and the open field and the sky above his head, the stars as company during the night. 

Now, he saw Yusaku’s small frame hunched over the floor, green eyes devoid of light. 

He’d never headed home.

He’d been here all this time. Like all these children.

Nausea hit him like a punch to the gut and he hurried out of the room, into the bathroom, emptying his stomach into an open stall. He gagged a couple times, tears pricking at his eyes.

_It’s my fault._

_If I hadn’t brought him home._

_Father would have never…_

No. _Father didn’t do this._ He...He couldn’t have.

All of this was a horrible nightmare. He’d fallen asleep in the back of Aso’s car. This wasn’t real. It couldn't be.

When he made it back to the AI room, no one was there, thankfully.

No one but the eyes, staring at him. 

Staring as if they knew. 

_You saw, didn’t you?_

_His dreams were relentless that night._

* * *

“Ryoken-kun, what’s wrong?” Kyoko asked during lunch. They were at the facility’s break room. “You’ve barely eaten.”

Ryoken poked at his noodles without appetite. 

“I’m not very hungry.”

“C’mon, kid.” Genome nudged him. “You’re not getting any taller like that!”

Something angry coiled around Ryoken. He pushed at Genome, glaring at him.

“Don’t _touch_ me.”

The reaction was out of the ordinary for him. Even Genome was taken aback for a second.

“...Feisty today, eh? Woke up on the wrong side of the bed?”

“Genome, stop teasing him.” Aso came over, holding a cup of coffee. He gave Ryoken a small smile. “Are you alright, though? You look like you didn't get much sleep.”

Ryoken stared at Aso’s smile. Familiar, reassuring. 

Yet he’d been speaking of those children as nothing more than a science project. As though they weren’t in tremendous pain. 

Lips pressed together, holding back the clog on his throat, Ryoken shook his head and stood from the table.

“Ryoken-kun?”

“I…” Breathe in. “I have to go finish my homework.”

With that, he absconded from the table, ignoring the worried looks of the adults. 

Worried. _Fake._ Everything around him was starting to feel fake. 

* * *

“Kyoko-san said you haven’t been eating much.”

Ryoken swallowed. Another rare instance of Father and him having dinner together at home.

“Is something troubling you?”

If he told Father what he saw, what would his reply be? 

Angry, that he disobeyed. Disappointed. 

But why was something so scary going on in that facility?

What benefit would it be for humanity if children had to suffer like that?

“My studies.” He lied. “There is something I cannot grasp no matter how much I try.” _Why, Father?_ “And it makes me doubt my knowledge.” _What is the truth?_ “It is frustrating.” _I’m scared_.

Father hummed.

“Do not let frustration cloud you. Sometimes the answers are right in front of you.” He stood from the table, bringing his plate with him. “You can ask Kyoko-san or Aso for help if it continues to trouble you.”

“...I will. Thank you, Father.”

* * *

For the following month, at any chance he got, Ryoken sneaked into that monitor room. The AI in the other room had grown quieter, no longer imitating what they heard. Because the children barely said anything, anymore. 

No pleas, only screams of pain.

Ryoken heard this over and over and wanted to convince himself it was a lie. It wasn't.

 _The answers are right in front of you_.

One day, while observing the screen Yusaku was in, he wouldn't get up. Ryoken’s breathing hitched. He wasn’t moving. 

Without thinking, he pressed the button to activate the mic.

“Hey, you…get up.”

Yusaku shifted at the sound of his voice. Looked around as if searching for him.

What could Ryoken tell him? 

This nightmare wasn’t going to end yet. Ryoken didn’t know how to end it.

 _Ryoken._ A gentle, familiar voice. The tangerine smell of her perfume. Fingers carding through his hair. _When it gets painful...when you don’t know how to move forwards, think…_

“...Three.” He said. “Think of three things.”

_That's right._

“Three things to live.

Three things to go home.

Three things to defeat the enemy.

By thinking you can still live.”

Right now, all he could offer Yusaku was hope in the form of words. 

Think. Ryoken had to think how to bring this to an end too.

* * *

It wasn’t hard to find the announcements online about missing children. They had all been missing for six months.

Ryoken stared at his computer’s screen, at the faces of the victims.

“ **If seen, please report to the police.”**

Ryoken was alone at home. It would be the ideal time to do it. Yet his fingers shook when he grabbed the phone and he dropped it onto the floor, panting.

He’d be reporting his father to the authorities.

Father, family, all Ryoken had left of it. Kyoko and Aso too. What would the police do to them?

He hung the phone that day and hid under his bedsheets. 

* * *

The next time he visited the monitor room, Yusaku was dueling. Dueling with all his might against an enemy Ryoken couldn’t see. He fell, and he got back up, the shine revived in his eyes.

It moved something within Ryoken. How he kept fighting, now, with renewed courage. 

He brushed his fingers to each screen.,seeing both the determination and the hollowness in those children’s stares. The hope and the despair alike. They were all still fighting. Kept alive by mere embers.

Ryoken couldn’t watch this anymore.

“...I’m going to get you all out.” He whispered. “I promise.”

* * *

He made the call from the site.

There was a phone in the break room. Everyone had filtered out after lunch and Ryoken used that chance to contact the authorities. Through sheer will alone, he managed to keep his voice even as he reported the location. He remained anonymous.

Hanging up, he just felt sick. How fast would the authorities get here? Father was going to get arrested. Would they find the place? Ryoken had to tell him to get away.

He crashed into Kyoko on the way out from the room.

“Ryoken-kun…?” Kyoko knelt down to his height. “I knew it. You looked pale earlier, too.” Her digits were cool against his forehead, drenched with sweat. “Do you feel sick?”

“I…” He looked at her concerned face. He nodded, swallowing hard. “I don’t feel so good.”

“What hurts? Your stomach?”

A nod. It wasn’t a lie: it was in knots.

“I’ll go to the pharmacy and get you some medicine.” She offered. “You can rest here. I know Aso isn’t here today, but if you need anything let someone else know, okay?”

After a moment, Ryoken nodded. He held onto Kyoko’s sleeve.

“I’m sorry.” 

She shook her head, smiling.

“Why? You can’t help being sick.” She stood, turning the way she came. “I’ll try to be quick.”

“Have a safe trip.”

Silence, after she left. Ryoken was restless. Heart pounding.

What was going to happen now?

It could have been minutes, or an hour, or more, when sirens were heard outside. Someone breaking the front door in, loud shouts resounding from the hallways.

In a moment of panic, Ryoken opened the cabinet under a sink and hid. Covered his ears and shut his eyes tight, hearing the facility turn to chaos. Scientists shouting, possibly being pushed down the hall, someone saying “ _They are here!”_ , muffled talking. 

Were they taking Father away too?

_You saved those kids._

_I accused Father._

He pushed harder on his ears, tears gathering in his eyes and sobs getting stuck in his throat. 

It’s deafening for a long moment and then...silence. Retreating footsteps. The sirens going away. 

Ryoken stayed where he was. It’s an eternity before he heard footsteps again.

“Have you found him?” Aso. Why was he here?

“Nope! Jeez, where did the brat go?” Genome. He hadn't been here today either.

“He must have hid.” Kyoko. She must have called everyone. Her heels echoed in the break room as she entered. “Ryoken-kun! Are you here?”

He whimpered, a small hurt thing. The footsteps paused then came close to the cabinet, opening the door.

“Oh, there you are.” Kyoko sounded relieved. She held out her hands. “Come here.”

Shaking his head, his face scrunched up as another pained noise tore through him.

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry, Kyoko-san--”

“Shh, shh.” She slowly pulled him out of the cabinet. Aso and Genome kept their distance a few steps behind her. “You must have been so scared. It’s alright, they are gone.”

“W-Where’s Father?”

Pause. Then:

“They took him away.” Genome, for once, didn’t sound mocking or condescending. “Those guys found this place somehow.”

Guilt pushed down any relief he felt over saving those children. 

_How could you do_ _this_ _to Father?_

“I d-did it. It was me.” Furiously he shook his head again.“I c-called, I c-couldn’t watch anymore.” Through his tears he saw the different levels of shock in their faces. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry. F-Father got taken away b-because of me--”

He curled over himself and bawled. He couldn't speak anymore.

“...It’s okay, Ryoken-kun.” Kyoko gathered him into her arms, stroking his back. “It’s alright.” She squeezed him tight.

“We’re going to fix this.”

**Author's Note:**

> >So I wasn't planning on it when I first started these drabbles but then I got caught with the idea of that room with the Ignis. And them, at first, imitating their Origins--it's the only words and sounds they are hearing, as they develop--and that is how Ryoken first feels something is amiss. And I like Ryoken having a previous contact with the Ignis, trying to talk to them and being fascinated by them until he learns how they came to be. 
> 
> >I like the idea of Genome and Young Ryoken not getting along. As I adore Kyoko+Aso considering Ryoken like a little sibling (which was mentioned in canon, how Aso thinks Ryoken is like a young bro to him). Then it just hurts me how Ryoken learns what they were all doing. And then how he'll become the Leader of KOH and all these bonds will change. "Ryoken-kun" to "Revolver-sama". UGH.
> 
> >Did not miss the chance to hint at my HC that Ryoken believes in aliens, or a little about his mom. My idea is that Ryoken's name came to be because she picked it out (I still love that he's named after a constellation! Star Boi). Also, how did he originally pick up the "Three things" habit? It could have been something he came up on in the spot. But I also like to think it's something he learned from someone, and that his mom taught it to him to center himself. With time he'll forget all this...but the habit stays.  
> \--
> 
> I'm also at
> 
> pocketsonny on tumblr  
> @moons0nata (main) and @pocketwriting (wips/ideas) on twitter


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